Contact: Peter Peretzman
For Release: August 27, 2001

New High School Graduation Test to Be Given for First
Time in 2001-02 School Year;
Fifth and Eighth Graders to Be Tested for First Time in Social Studies

The new High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA) will be administered
as the graduation test of record to the state's eleventh-grade students
for the first time in March 2002. The eleventh graders will have three
opportunities to pass the HSPA to meet the graduation requirement. Students
who do not pass the HSPA next March will have additional opportunities
to be retested in the fall of 2002 and the spring of 2003. The HSPA will
initially be administered in the subject areas of language arts literacy
and mathematics. Additional subject areas will be phased in over the next
several years.

Also, the state's fifth- and eighth-grade students will, for the first
time, take a test in social studies. Fifth graders will take the exam
in October of 2001, while the eighth graders will take the test in the
spring of 2002. Both fourth- and eighth-grade students will continue to
test in language arts literacy, science and math  the eighth graders
in March of 2002 and the fourth graders in May 2002.

"I believe that our state's system of assessments is the most important
measure of accountability in our schools," said Commissioner of Education
Vito A. Gagliardi, Sr. "We have worked very hard to craft rigorous
academic standards that reflect what students ought to know and be able
to do at the fourth-, eighth- and eleventh-grade levels, and we have worked
diligently to link a rigorous system of assessments to our standards.

"I believe that this system of standards and assessments will provide
our children with a world-class education that will prepare them for successful
futures in college and the working world." In the 2001-02 school
year, the Department of Education will also for the first time disaggregate
testing data. This will allow school districts to compare test performance
within several demographic groups. The state will disaggregate data by
race, gender, limited English proficient, special education and socio-economic
group. The United States Department of Education requires that this information
be produced. The data will allow school districts to analyze student performance
so that curriculum and programs can be introduced that are designed to
address deficiencies.

"This information will be a great help to school districts,"
said Jay Doolan, acting assistant commissioner for Academic and Career
Standards. "For the first time, gaps in performance within individual
demographic groups can be addressed using hard data."

The new HSPA will be administered on March 5-7, 2002 for high school
juniors. The HSPT will be administered from October 2-4 for any retained
juniors, seniors, adult high school, or returning students who still need
to pass one or more sections of the HSPT 11.

The eighth-grade test (GEPA) will be administered from March 11-15, 2002
and the fourth-grade test (ESPA) will be administered from April 29-May
3, 2002. The social studies test for fifth graders will be given on October
16, 2001.